Page 79 of Her Arranged Alpha
I watched him work his jaw before turning to me. Maddox pulled me into his arms, his hands shaking as he held me. I felt him take a shaky breath in. "All I want to do is protect you."
I clung to him, looking at Hope, who looked as broken as I felt. I tightened my hold on his jacket. "You did. You did protect me."
I looked outside into the woods, unsure of what had happened. I wasn't sure what our future looked like, but I did know one thing. Shit was hitting the fan.
I woke up to Maddox holding me to his chest. I didn't even remember getting home. My mind had stopped working after Maddox pulled me to him. I listened as Maddox and Hopetalked about their next steps. Maddox asked about what they needed to do.
"Are you awake?" Maddox asked, his hand rubbing circles on my back.
I nodded my head and sighed against his chest. "Can we just stay in bed today?"
I felt his lips press against my forehead. "If you want."
I was surprised by this and sat up, staring into his eyes. "You're not going to tell me it's childish? That we have to deal with the Council?"
He smirked, reaching a hand out and moving some of my hair behind my ear. "Nope. I'm not."
I chewed on my cheek, unable to hide how much I loved him. How deeply he knew me.
I rested my head back against his chest. "We have to go."
"Do we? We could always run away."
I smirked, thinking how just a few months ago I wanted to do just that. But now I couldn't imagine leaving. They would have to drag me out.
"I think you'd miss it."
He laughed, his chest shaking me. "I suppose that's true."
"Just five minutes," I sighed, knowing we would have to get up, but I could lie here just a moment longer.
After we finally got out of bed and headed to the Council, my body tensed up as I realized the entire parking lot was filled. There was hardly a spot to park, and I looked at Maddox, confused. "Why are there so many people here?"
Maddox looked just as confused as I was. He got out of the car and opened my side door. We headed inside and found that the inside was packed with people. I could hardly process what was going on before Hope was running down the stairs. She smiled as she walked to us, a pip in her step.
"What is going on?" I asked.
"Everyone is here to make sure you don't get locked up again. They are all here to make sure the Council knows what you did."
I was stunned, and before I could even process it, Ralph stood at the top of the stairs. He looked at everyone for a moment before he looked at me and Maddox.
"You're late." He said, simply waving a hand down the hall.
"Sorry, we almost died and took a little extra time to sleep," Maddox said, his hand wrapped around my middle as we headed up the stairs. "God forbid we take a moment to enjoy that we are still breathing.
I couldn't suppress the smirk that formed, and Ralph stared at Maddox, not impressed.
We headed into the Council meeting room, Ralph shutting the door behind us. Maddox stood next to me, and I felt confident and proud, unlike before. Maddox and I had both overcome so much and survived what happened yesterday.
"We called you both here to discuss what happened yesterday," Ralph spoke in a neutral voice as he took his seat. All the eyes went to us. "And we need a step-by-step of what happened."
Maddox and I both gave a descriptive story of what happened. We both spoke, explaining everything that happened,including how whoever was doing this was getting more powerful. We ended with the witches coming to stop everything, and how we were here now.
"So, what exactly is your plan?" Maddox asked, looking annoyed. "Can't exactly brush this off like every other time you have. Whoever is doing this needs to be stopped before there is nothing we can do."
"We understand the seriousness of this and are looking into it."
"Are you? Because if the witches hadn't arrived, I don't think we would be standing here," Maddox snapped angrily.
